"Your Guilt is Taken Away"

When God opens heaven, the vision is always the same. It’s the same because heaven is filled with the glory of the Lord. The worship of the angels, archangels, cherubim and seraphim and all the company of heaven is eternal. People who have gotten a glimpse of heaven, people like Ezekiel, Isaiah, and St. John, all describe similar visions of the throne room of God.

They all, in their own way, do their best to describe the glory of the Lord. Each one reacts with fear and trembling, because they all know that one doesn’t see the face of the Lord and live. Isaiah was the same way. He felt like the shaking doorposts he saw in his vision. His alarm and fear reflects the alarm and fear that we experience in the presence of the Holy God.

When Isaiah saw God in all his splendor, he wasn’t giddy with excitement. He didn’t experience some kind of emotional high from his personal encounter with the almighty God. His reaction wasn’t even one of joy. Instead Isaiah experienced fear, humility, and reverence.

The fear was because he knew that he was a sinner in the presence of the most holy God, for nothing unholy can abide in his presence. The humble reverence because he was in the presence of his Lord and Creator. Isaiah saw God in his awe-inspiring, overwhelming heavenly glory.

Isaiah found himself in the presence of the great "I AM," creator of all that is seen and unseen, and he saw quite clearly, things he had not seen before. The revelation of God’s holiness causes alarm to sinners who recognize their un-holiness. This is underscored by the words of Exodus 33:20 that say that no one may see God’s face and live.

Those words obviously came to Isaiah’s mind. He cries out, "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people with unclean lips." Isaiah saw what cannot be seen by unbelievers because it remains hidden from their eyes. He saw what he truly was – a poor miserable sinner, a sinner among sinful men.

He deserved destruction at the hands of God, who sat on his throne – right there in front of him. Isaiah’s conscience convicted him of his sin. How can we stand before the Lord, join holy angels in their songs of praise, if we too are unclean? The vision of the seraphim attending God caused Isaiah to mourn for Israel and fear for his life.

He realized that he and all of his people were by nature dead in sin and there was no righteousness in any of them. Isaiah had nothing to merit the favor of God. He had nothing to appease his wrath and earn his forgiveness. He stood before God, naked in his sins and shame. Isaiah was feeling utterly lost and felt his sinfulness with particular clarity.

In our Gospel, St. Peter experienced the same thing when he found himself in the presence of God in the person of Jesus Christ. After the miraculous catch of fish, Peter fell down before Jesus and begged, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." Such is the reaction of those who get even a small glimpse of the divine nature of God. They are crushed by the reality of their sin. The façade of their self-imagined righteousness falls away.

The light of God’s glory reveals the darkness of their souls. All pride is removed. There is nothing left but despair. If there is ever a time our

But what about you? You have come to this holy place. You stand on holy ground. You are in the house of the Lord – in his temple. You have come to this place, consecrated and set aside for the Lord to be in his divine presence. You have called on the name of the Lord, invoked His holy name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You have come here trusting in his promise to be in the midst of his people, wherever they are gathered.

You are in the presence of same God with whom Isaiah was not worthy to be in the presence of. Isaiah did not see himself worthy to sing with the angels or even to see the vision that was before him. He had no wings to hide himself or cover his shame.

Each of us are men and women of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips. We are not worthy to be here in the presence of God. We are not worthy to sing the songs of the angels or approach God’s heavenly throne. We have no wings to hide our shame. We stand here before God, naked in our sin, without even a fig leaf with which to hide.

But for Isaiah, an angel, a seraph from the army of God, an angel who is in the temple day and night singing to the glory of the Lord, came and took a burning coal from the altar, a remnant of the burnt offering, and placed it on Isaiah’s lips. That coal forgave Isaiah’s sins. He was made holy like the angel, because he shared in that which had been sacrificed in his place. It was put on his mouth and it made him clean.

Like Isaiah, you have had your guilt taken away. You, too, have been made clean. You don’t need a fig leaf, or an animal skin, because you have been clothed in robes of Christ’s righteousness.

Jesus Christ left the glory of heaven and came to this earth for the salvation of his people. He took what was his and made it yours. He removed your filthy garments and clothed you in robes washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb. At the same time, he sends forth his Holy Spirit, who breathes into you the power to believe and confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

This Jesus, who is God in the flesh, has not been revealed to us in his heavenly glory. But he has been revealed to us in the humility of the cross. That cross, is our only door to heaven, and Christ is the only image we have of God. This Christ is also the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world.

Through the cross, Jesus fills the earth with his glory. Through the cross, Jesus opens the door of heaven to you. He who sees Jesus on the cross sees the almighty God in his gracious and loving mercy.

So there is no need to live in the shadow of our sin. Just like Isaiah was made pure by the burning coal, you are made pure by the body and blood of Christ. The flesh that suffered the fire of God’s wrath is placed on your lips and tongue, and you are purged of your sin, and made holy and righteous in God’s sight.

All the glory of God is fed to you in this most holy meal. No longer condemned, you stand with the angels and archangels and all the company of heaven and sing with them the threefold hymn of praise, "Holy, holy, holy."

You no longer have to fear, because your sins have been forgiven. You have received the blessed Absolution. You have already heard Jesus say, "I forgive you all your sins." Amen.